October... it's very public knowledge that it's Breast Cancer Awareness month but it's also Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month. So much money goes into breast cancer research but there's a part of me that can't help but think that maybe one of these lost babies could have held the answer to healing and prevention for breast cancer among many other things. So why isn't more being done to try to prevent this? The realist in me says "because that's just not the way it's supposed to be" but the optimist in me says "but just maybe technology will get a handle on this!"October 15th is the official Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. Across the world, people light a candle at 7:00 p.m. their local time for a global "Wave of Light" to remember our babies. Feel free to join in and please keep all of those who are dealing with loss, at any stage, in your thoughts and prayers. I came across a saying that says it all so well: A tiny life doesn't equal a tiny loss.
Each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death. Sadly, there are so very many families that experience this. I started to write "women" but it's not just the women. It's the dads, and the grandparents, and the friends, and the expectant siblings. Most have no clue how to deal with it when loss strikes them. Some of us have walked the path multiple times but even then each step is different.
I know I've commented before on how a wonderful group of friends banded together and made a donation to A Small Victory when Eli died. If you have the means and the desire, I highly encourage you to donate to this non-profit organization grown from love and grief by another friend of mine. They provide loss kits to hospitals and now even doctors offices so that moms don't have to leave completely empty handed.I was "lucky" to already know Liz and about her organization and she walked me through what I could expect and things that I should do. It was hard to absorb everything as I was lying there in L&D preparing to deliver and even harder after the delivery and surgery. You never think that when you get that positive pregnancy test that one day you'll be shopping for going home outfits and 48 hours later you have to decide which funeral home you want to take care of your baby.
For more information on P.A.I.L. Awareness, see:
1 comment:
My cousin lost one of her twin girls and we light candles each yr. I too wish it was more in the public eyes but for now, we reach out to the ones we can and spread the word. Great post.
-h
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